Senate moves to save victims of gunshots

UDORA ORIZU writes that the Senate last week passed for second reading a bill seeking to amend the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshots Act, to enforce treatment for victims of gunshots

At the plenary last week, the Senate in a yet another move to end the flagrant disregard of human life by medical doctors, considered and passed for second reading a Bill seeking to amend the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshots Act, 2017 to enforce treatment for victims of gunshots injury without a police report.

Over the years, people with gunshots wounds are routinely rejected by hospitals because of the tendency of the police to harass and incriminate medical doctors and other medical personnel for treating them without obtaining police clearance. The erroneous assumption by the police was that every gunshot victim might have been an armed robber, who escaped from the their bullets or was involved in an altercation with their fellow criminals. Their assumption is also against the background of increase in arms proliferation and the worsening security situation in the country, such as Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east, militancy in the Niger Delta region, Fulani herdsmen terrorism in the middle-belt, secession agitations, armed robbery, kidnapping and unknown gunmen killings in the South-west and South-east.

Aside fear of police harassment, another obstacle to the enforcement of this life-saving law, is the profit motive of hospitals. In emergency situation, a victim who was rushed to a hospital may not have any ready cash to deposit, leading to the hospital rejecting him/her with the usual excuse of lack of police clearance. This prejudice by hospitals denying traumatised gunshot victims and accident victims medical attention until police report is obtained as required by law has been a serious flaw which has endangered the lives of many unlucky citizens, leading to many avoidable deaths. It is a very painful experience for families to lose their loved ones under such circumstances.

Previous Laws Enacted to Ensure Gunshots Victims are Treated

Section 20 of the National Health Act 2014 had made a provision, stating partly that, “A health care provider, health worker or health establishment shall not refuse a person on emergency medical treatment for any reason. An offender is liable to a fine of N100,000, a jail term of six months or both upon conviction.”

Also, on January 12, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017. The Act was among six other bills passed by the National Assembly. It stipulates that a person with gunshot shall be received for immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria with or without initial monetary deposit.

Furthermore, it states that a person with gunshot wounds shall not be subjected to any inhuman or degrading treatment by any person or authority, including the police and other security agencies, in the process of having his or her life saved. The law certainly, represents a step forward in an attempt to respect human dignity and preserve life. It is uncivilised, indeed, inhuman, to abandon a traumatised and distressed person who urgently needs medical attention on the flimsy ground that there is no police report on the circumstance of his or her injury.

According to the former Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, both public and private hospitals are involved in the implementation of the law; and a victim should be given immediate and adequate treatment whether there is a cash deposit or not. He said further that a person with gunshot wound shall not be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment or torture by any person or authority, including the police and other security agencies.

Admonitions by Police Regarding the Issue

At several fora, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) restated that no ‘Police Report’ is needed before any government or privately-owned medical facility could admit and render emergency services to any victim of gunshot wounds.

It took the concerted efforts of a former Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, who in 2015 re-issued a statement on the matter, and charged his officers not to harass Nigerians and good Samaritans on this issue. He also reminded doctors that they were equally duty bound to treat victims wounds and further inform police of relevant facts.

Also, in May 2018, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Imohimi Edgal made startling pronouncements over the vexatious issue, reminding offenders that there exists Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 and the resultant penalty of five years jail for offenders.

Edgal’s admonition came after the sad story of an Ogun State based engineer, Adebayo Akinwunmi, 41, was reportedly shot by armed robbers in his house and eventually died with the family, after he was rushed to Reddington Hospital in a pool of his blood and doctors allegedly refused to attend to him insisting on a police report.

While the laws assented to by the executive arm of government and admonitions by the police were a welcomed development, which underscored the sanctity of life, however in spite of the Acts and police supposed stance, the flagrant disregard of human life by medical doctors has continued unabated.

A Promised Amendment by Gbajabiamila

Few months back, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, at the opening of the 44th/45th Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGSM) of the West African College of Physicians (WACP), Nigeria Chapter in Abuja, said the House was working toward amending the National Health Act to address gaps in accessing healthcare, including funding for gunshot victims.

Gbajabiamila, who was represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Health, Hon. Tanko Sununu, said in the amended Act, provisions were made for healthcare service providers to claim funds used to treat gunshot victims during emergencies.

According to higher, the proposed amendment Act was important as increasing cases of ‘no payment, no service’ for victims of gunshot wounds posed serious concern.

The New Amendment by Senate

Just like the Green Chamber, the Red Chamber at plenary last week considered a Bill to establish fund for treatment of gunshot victims. The Bill seeking to amend the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshots Act, 2017, was sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC, Lagos Central).

The proposed legislation, among others, seeks to establish the Medical Emergency Assistance Fund to cover the treatment of victims of gunshot, knife wounds, and other life threatening emergencies.

Leading debate on its general principles, Tinubu said that the intent behind the Compulsory Treatment and Care for the Victims of Gunshots Act, 2017, was to enforce treatment for victims of Gunshots injury.

She noted that prior to its enactment, victims of gunshot injuries were being refused treatment by hospitals, as a result of a misinterpretation of Section 4 of the Robbery and firearms (Special Provision) Act 1990.

The ranking senator, however, explained that the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of gunshot Act, 2017, provides that every Hospital, public or private shall receive for treatment, with or without police clearance, with or without monetary deposit, persons with gunshot wounds, and criminalises contravention.

She noted that the Act provides a mechanism for reporting treatment of persons with gunshot wounds to police, and precludes persons from being the subject of embarrassing interrogation for helping victims.

Her words: “In a country where emergency response is almost non-existent, and getting victims to hospital is already burdensome, it is sad that where the victims make it to a hospital alive, they are still denied treatment and left to die.

“This is not only barbaric and inhumane, it is a violation of Hippocratic oath which medical professionals swear to. The situation is further made worse by the fact that obtaining these police reports has been commercialized by some, thus ensuring that there is no quick and easy way to get it done”.

Narrating an incident in December 2019, the legisator lamented that a victim, Moradeun Balogun, bled to death after she was stabbed at Gbagada in Lagos State and refused care at the nearest hospital where she had rushed to for medical attention.

Tinubu assured that the Compulsory Treatment of Victims of Gunshot Injuries Act when amended, would give cover to victims of gunshot injuries, knife wounds, and other life threatening emergencies.

She added that the amendment Bill is predicated on a need to ensure that the Act, passed into law in 2017, addresses the purpose for its enactment.

Contributing in support of the Bill, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, said that providing treatment for victims of gunshot injuries would assist security agencies in securing information from such persons needed to curb criminality in the country.

On his part, Senator Ibikunle Amosun insisted that the sanctity of life must be protected at all cost, adding that even if those people have committed those crimes, it is when they are alive that they can face the music, and others will learn from it.

The Bill after scaling second reading was referred by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, to the Joint Committees on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters and Health (Secondary and Tertiary) for legislative inputs. They were given four weeks to report back to the Senate.

What’s Expected after the Amendment

The hospitals’ reason for rejection of emergency cases of this nature verges on the abuse of the most important fundamental human right – the right to life, as enshrined in Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. Many medical practitioners have forgotten their oath of office, and for this reason, when the lawmakers are done with the proposed amendment, they should embark on elaborate public enlightenment of relevant stakeholders on the details of the Gunshot Act and how imperative it is, especially on the penalties for its violation by doctors, nurses and the police.

The citizens also need to be abreast of these laws, so that legal remedies could be sought against individuals and institutions whose actions might lead to avoidable deaths under these gruesome circumstances of gun shots. Furthermore the lawmakers should ensure that the objectives of the law are enforced this time, else just like the previous Acts, it will also become inherently defective.

(THISDAY)